Page 76 of Death Match

But none of that mattered. They all were going to be a few seconds too late.

As Jade’s eyes closed and she sucked in her final strangled breath, everything around us faded to black. In the darkness, Ed’s booming laughter echoed.

When the darkness lifted, I was no longer in the memory with Ed and the other version of myself. I was looking out across a great height, staring at a barren wasteland that stretched for miles and miles. To my relief, Michael and Eli were both standing there on the ledge in front of me.

Seeing Eli’s dark hair, hazel-green eyes, and handsome face made my pulse kick up a notch. It felt like a lifetime since we’d been together. And after everything I’d seen and been through, I missed him and the comfort he brought.

All I wanted was to be wrapped in his arms and held. If only for a few minutes. Just until my thoughts settled and I could process it all without bursting into tears.

Glancing over my shoulder, the maze was laid out behind me, all its dead ends and twists visible from this height, making me realize that we were on one of the wall’s top ledges. Like when I had hopped along the walls to get to my third Trial faster. But from the looks of it, we were at the very edge of the labyrinth. Near the end.

Trying not to focus on how high we were, I looked back at the two angels before me. Michael stared at me with a perfect, straight-teeth grin and his arms opened wide in welcoming.

“You did it, Jade,” he said, walking toward me. With pride radiating from him, he clasped me by the shoulders and gave me a firm shake. “You made it to the end.”

Confused by his personal display of affection, I glanced around nervously, unsure how to respond.

“Uh, thanks,” I muttered. “Does that mean I beat the Trials? Did I win?”

His cloudy gray eyes sparkled. “Yes, my dear. You did.”

I gasped. “Really?”

Letting me go, Michael nodded. His smile never left his face.

Holy crap. I did it.

I really did it.

Laughter bubbled up my throat as I repeated it over and over again to myself. As it began to sink in, the giggles continued to spill past my lips, unable to be stopped. I’d won. I’d beaten the Trials. Even standing here with Michael and Eli, facing the vast emptiness of what was left of this dimension, I was having a hard time believing it.

The buzz of excitement coursed through my body. I don’t know what I had expected at the end. Maybe a celebratory parade or a full marching band tribute. At least some balloons raining down from above and a cake. A cake was a must. But instead, my knees weakened, and I locked them to prevent myself from collapsing onto the ground. No more archways, no more jungle, no more swirling mists, or deadly shifting rocks…

It was over. Finally.

I had survived not only one Trial, but four. Maybe they hadn’t chosen the wrong girl for this Archangel gig after all.

“You made us nervous for a bit with that last Trial,” Michael said once my laughter settled down. “For a moment, we thought we’d lost you there.”

The last Trial… When I thought back to the strange alternate reality with Cole, my stomach dropped. That’s right. Not only had I temporarily lived with him, had sex with him, and almost gotten lost in the perfection and fogginess that Trial had brought, but Michael and Eli were able to watch me through the entire thing. They’d seen it all.

That meant Eli had seen me with Cole.

Oh shit.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

My gaze swung to Eli, who had been standing in the background silently since I had arrived. Although his shoulders were pulled back and his arms were tight at his sides, at attention in his leader’s presence, his anguish showed all over his face.

An apology instantly hovered on my tongue, but the exact wording tripped me up. What did I say in this instance? Sorry I fell for the Trial’s tricks and hadn’t seen through it sooner? Sorry I may have, sort of, had sex with my ex in this fictional scenario? All of them sounded pretty bad in my head, so they must have sounded even worse if said aloud.

Instead, I bit my bottom lip, embarrassment scalding my cheeks.

I’d really messed up, hadn’t I? Dammit. How was I going to fix this?

I had no idea.

“Eli…” I forced myself to start. I had to tell him something, anything, to let him know that what had happened between me and Cole hadn’t been real. I’d been wrapped up in the magic, or whatever it was, that constructed the Trials. Cole Masters wasn’t in my life anymore. Eli was. “Please, I know how it must look, but let me explain.”

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